Restaurants often mark their most popular menu items for indecisive customers. But one Olive Garden customer says she missed the symbol key at the bottom of the menu, discovering what the mark next to her order really means.
In a video with over 312,000 views, Marnie Perez (@marnie.perez8a) points at a page of Olive Garden’s menu, which displays the restaurant chain’s “OG Favorites.”
“Ignorance is bliss,” she remarks, pointing to a small triangle next to the “Tour of Italy” and “Chicken Tortellini Alfredo.”
On-screen text reads, “I thought the icon was showing the Olive Garden recommended dishes. But it was actually an alert that it’s a high sodium dish.”
How are high-sodium dishes marked at Olive Garden?
She pans down to the bottom of the menu, which confirms that the triangle indicates dishes that contain sodium that is “higher than the total daily recommendation.”
The warning continues, “High sodium can increase blood pressure and risk of heart disease and stroke.”
Perez wishes she hadn’t spotted the warning before placing her order. The caption reads, “I didn’t need to know that.”
In the comments, Olive Garden workers and guests alike discuss the warning.
“As someone who even works there, I had no clue. Oh my gosh, they don’t even mention that in training,” one wrote.
“It’s kinda wild to think we live in a country that serves food that requires warnings on it for high contents of not-so-healthy items,” another said.
Should you avoid high-sodium food at restaurants?
Two cities in the United States, New York City and Philadelphia, require chain restaurants to label menu items that contain more than 2,600 milligrams (mg). That’s 100% of the daily value of sodium for an adult.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends staying under the daily value to avoid increased heart health risks. As a guideline, the FDA suggests staying below 20% of the daily value of sodium per meal.
Despite these recommendations, viewers are split on whether high sodium should be avoided.
“Unless you already have a blood pressure condition, you don’t need to avoid salt,” one claimed.
“Ignorance is bliss,” another said, including salt shaker emoji at the end of their comment.
“As someone that needs a high sodium diet to treat my pots/ist, that is so cool. Works for people that need to avoid salt as well,” a third shared. In response, another wrote, “Yes! I have both too. And the chicken tortellini Alfredo is my fave.”
Update 6:09pm CT, Feb. 19: In an email to the Daily Dot, Perez also says the high sodium warning doesn’t concern her.
“I thought the icon was indicating an Olive Garden favorite or recommended dish, rather than the high sodium,” she writes. “Regardless, it didn’t deter me as I go to Olive Garden as a treat/comfort meal.”
@marnie.perez8a I didn’t need to know that @Olive Garden 🥲 #og #olivegarden ♬ Use this sound to go viral – Andrew
The Daily Dot emailed Olive Garden for further information.
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